Tennis-racket



W. RSCHEY.

TENNIS RACKET.

APPHCATHIN man APR. 7. 1919.

Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

Inventor.-

a Rickgy,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM RIGHEY, OF GH'ICOPEE FALLS. MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO A. G. SPAIiDING &: 13308;. 01' JERSEY CITY. NEW JERSEY. A CQRPORATION OFNEW JERSEY.

TENN IS-RACKET.

Application filed April 7. 1919,

To all w/wm. it may ("mu-em lie it known that I, WILLIAM RIGIIEY, :t citizen of the l nitcd States, and resident of Chieopee Falls. iiplassachnsctts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 'lennis-Rackets, oi which the tol lowing is a specification.

inrention relates to tennis, rackets having a ltlllffll'i/(Illtlii at the throat piece, where Weakne s would "Xie't were reinforcement not employed. owing to. the hint that the gluing Sllll th'v oi the throat piece at the upper portion therml where it join the arms of the ho? is largely end grain.

Reinforcing means has been proposed hereto-fore in nhich the grain thereof runs at right-angles to the grain of the throat piece and in ei'lrrjving out my invention I employ a reinforcing member or members oithis sort.

One object oi my invention is to provide a ei'nr-strnetion that may be made with few operations and which will facilitate rapidit or :rweinbly. eimbling quantity production to be secured at a minimum expense and with uniform accuracy. I a m to preserve to maximum extent the strength oi the arms of the bow and at the some time present a large area of contact between the reinforc ing member or members and the said arms, the reinforcing means rezicl'iing approxi mately along;- the entire end grain portion of the throat piece or along a considerable orient of said portion.

in the accompanying drawings;

Figure l is a side View of the portion oi the racket Where the throat piece is located.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a portion ol' the throat piece.

Fig. 3 is a modification. the view being similar to that of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is :1 VlPW of a modification in which the recesses in the arms of the bow are cut deeper than in the other forms.

In car ring out the invention the racket frame ma be presented to a rotary cutter, the axis of which is at the point so thatv the cutter will form recesses in the sidearms of the bow on the line g The cutter produces a narrow recess, such as to receive a thin reinforcing piece or pieces indicated at 1 in Fig. 2, -which represents the upper portion of the throat piece. in vertical sec" tion. After the recesses are formed the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patent-ed Mar. 16, 1920.

Serial No, 288.142.

throat piccc may be inserted between the arms or the how. this throat piece having previously been built up with the reinforcing member. or members, 1 glued therein and having portions thereof projecting as at 2. so as to enter and. fill the recesses d"- fined by the lines The recesses in both of the arms oi the bows may be formed at one operation and. where a built-up throat piece A is en'iplo \'er l this is inserted between the arms of the how by moving it in a direction from the head oi the bow toward the lower end oi the handle, and in this assembling movement the projecting portions 2' of the reinforcing member, or members, will enter the rece "es defined by the lines 2 and glue having been applied the parts are united.

Instead oi" proceeding as above the throat piece first may be inserted and glued in place between the arms of the bow and then by presenting the racket frame to a circular cutter the necessary slits Will be formed in the throat piece and also in the arms of the bow at one cutting operation, after which the reinforcing members which have been formed to fit in these slits and recesses may be inserted in place properly supplied with glue and the parts will thus be united to gether.

In the construction shown in Fig. 1 in order to get :1 sufficient depth of the 1' recesses in the arms, for instance as defined by the lines y y the cutter will be located as above stated at the point an and therefore the recesses in the arms of the how will extend above the upper surface of the throat, piece and the reinforcing members will be provided with ends as at 3 to till these extensions of the recesses.

If it is desired however to have the ends of the reinforcing pieces terminate at the corners where the top of the throat piece joins the side arms the recesses in the arms may be formed on the lines 1 3 of Fig. 3 and these may be produced with a single cutter which will operate on the side arms of the bow previous to the insertion of the throat piece. The throat piece may be formed With the slits to receive the reinforcing pieces by presenting it to a saw or saws which Will cut the slits down to the straight transverse. line or bottom y and the reinforcing pieces will be shaped to fill these slits having for this purpose straight edges at the points y and the segmental projections at 2. In both forms, however, the recesses defined b the lines :l/-- 1/ or y-y' will be of Sn cient length to provide projectin portions of the reinforcing members whic 1 will extend a material distance along the end grain sides at l of the throat piece, so that in large measure these end grain portions of the throat piece will be reinforced by the segmental projecting portions of the inserted members and at the same time the side arms will have a material portion of their body left uncut at the points z, from all of which it will be seen that while the end grain parts of the throat piece are reinforced the side arms are left of material strength.

It will be noticed that the reinforcing effect of the projecting segmental portions will extend from the top of the yoke down to the points 5.

in both forms the edges of the segmental ends of the reii'i'loreing piece will find a bot tom, namely, the curved wall ol the recess to bear against with some of the glue inter posed and this will be so throughout the ere tent of the edge of the Sognitnlzll projec tions and thus those portions will become substantially integral with the continuous intact portions of the arms at s.

As above ointed out the manufacture can be carrie on rapidly owing to the fact that one cutting action makes the recesses in both arms.

It will be observed that the insert or reinforcing members have their grain running transverse to the longitudinal axis of the racket and the edges of these inserts where they lie at the bottoms of the recesses and against the niiaterial of the arms of the lion' present end grain surfaces which are tied o1" united to the bottom walls of the recesses by the glue inaliin a firm cormection at these points in addition to the function of the insert pieces acting as reinforcing means for the end grain surfaces of the throat piece.

I do not limit myself to the material of which the insert member is composed.

In Fig. l 1 show the recesses cut deeper into the bow arms by allowing the circular cutter to pass to a point where its axis will be below the plane of the upper ends or mouths of the recesses. These recesses therefore will have short straight portions at their upper ends tangent to the arcshaped portions.

What I claim is:

l. A tennis racket, having are shaped recesses in the inner sides of its arms each struck from a point between the arms and leaving the outer portions of the arms intact and a throat piece having a reinforcing member inserted therein and having segmental projecting portirnu; to fit the said reeesscs, said throat piece with its reinforcing member being glued in plaee. substantially as described.

9. A tennis racket having recesses in the inner sides of the arms of its bow each struck from a point between the arms, the bottoms of which recesses form arcs oi the same circle, and a threat piece having reinforcing members inserted therein ivith segmental projecting portions fitting in the are shaped recesses of the arms of the bo and glued in place, substantially as described.

3. A tennis racket having are shaped recesses in its arms, each struck from a point between the arms and a throat piece having an insert member or members with the grain running substantially at rightaingles to the axis oil the racket and with areshaped edges ln'esenting end grain surfaces to the bottom walls of the recesses and united thereto by glue. substantially as de scribed.

in l'bfiii zlfilii \i'hereof I affix my signature.

WILLIAM RICHEY. 

